


Plaintive Risks

by demonkkin



Series: Plaintive Risks and Dangerous Leads [1]
Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil, Youtubers
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Youtubers, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, JANSTAR - Freeform, Jarco - Freeform, Light-Hearted, M/M, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Soulmates, Romantic Friendship, tomco - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2018-09-22 14:38:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9611816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonkkin/pseuds/demonkkin
Summary: When famous YouTuber, Karatech Studios (AKA Marco Diaz) starts questioning his relationships with his friend Demonix (Tom the Demon), he soon discovers that maybe the shippers weren't that wrong after all.





	1. Chapter 1

He was on fire! No, not literally! Not literally! What he meant was...he was doing really well with his audience!

Marco Diaz, a famous YouTuber known by his alibi as “Karatech Studios” online, was gathering tons of viewers on his livestream. Today, people were questioning why he no longer lived with his best friend, and roommate, Star Butterfly. Of course, they were all aware she was a powerful Mewnian princess from another dimension, but most of the people on his livestream called him a liar and said it was just something to promote him and his filming buddy. This, of course, was not the case. 

Marco had told them in a collaborative livestream a few months ago with Star that Star was actually a princess. But after they saw her cast some spells, they believed even less and said it was just a fake green-screen effect. It was actual magic, but some news websites apparently heard of the incident and began writing stories on how Marco had gone insane. When even his parents testified, they were all considered crazy, and he lost a ton of subscribers over the course of only a few weeks. It was insane how his numbers had dropped. But after Star decided to make a video on how to cast spells and people were making response-videos back, they didn’t seem that crazy. Especially when some of the Mewnian YouTubers had decided to make some vlogs and there was this whole situation with Star and a few other famous Mewnian YouTubers giving a tour of the castle and even introducing Queen Moon Butterfly and her husband, River Butterfly. Now he had double as many subscribers and people were being extremely nice to him. It felt nice. Kinda well-earned, he supposed.

But all that drama didn’t fade when shipping was brought up AGAIN. For the millionth time. People guessed that Jackie, the 23-year-old’s girlfriend of four years, was just faking so that he seemed like a straight guy. Even though anyone who had been a fan of him knew that Jackie was, in fact, bisexual and that he, himself, was pansexual. He had come out on his 18th birthday. People kinda forgot about that, so he answered the question truthfully each time someone asked in the live chat. 

“Yeah guys, I’m pansexual. That shouldn’t mean much, I mean...Star is...I honestly don’t know gender-wise...but she’s also pansexual..? At least to my knowledge…? I don’t...get it…if you wanna know so badly, can’t you just look it up yourself instead of just asking me?”

He looked at the chat again. Constant questions of ‘are you and Demonix dating’ or ‘are you and Mewnineur dating?’ which he always denied. Though now, he was kind of...curious.

Everyone drew fanart of him with Star AND him with Tom. Who was Tom…? Tom was...his ex-crush.

Tom used to be really close with Marco, but when people started shipping them and hating on Jackie for just dating Marco, they started doing less together. It was unfortunate. Marco frowned as he kept reading comments pertaining to him dating Star.

 

“For the last time...okay...uh…” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I...I have to go. Jackie and I are going on a date later and I was hoping I could maybe introduce her and Tom and maybe record some vlogs…? I uh...I’ll see ya later…?”

The man quickly shut off the livestreaming equipment and closed his laptop, leaning back in his desk chair and sighing, frustration present in his eyes. He was beyond irritated.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is Marco OK? Will Jackie be able to help her boyfriend? Will Tom really be visiting them for a recording session?

“Marco…?” Jackie looked over at her boyfriend. Something seemed to be troubling him. Maybe it was another shipping war…? She didn’t really mind all the shipping that people were doing, but she would admit from time to time while talking to Star’s girlfriend, Janna, that she was a tiny bit jealous. Janna also felt jealous when Star, AKA Mewnineur, was shipped with Tom or Marco. But it was a YouTuber’s life, she supposed, and she continued to make her monthly appearances in the Mewnian Princess’ videos. 

“O-Oh...yeah? Jackie?” He still got incredibly nervous around her, seeing that he practically worshipped her. Though over the years, he managed to get control of that way better than he had in the past. He had matured in that aspect a considerable amount, as Star had stopped being obsessive over Janna. 

“I...nothing. I’m just worried about you, ya know? There’s obviously something wrong so-” She brushed a lock of Marco’s dark, brown hair out of his eyes. “Can’t you tell me what’s up?” She gave him a reassuring smile and kissed his cheek. He smiled in return.   
“It’s just…people won’t stop shipping me with Star or Tom...they’re my friends and like...I’ve always put up with the Star thing I guess, but the Tom thing is so...new? I...I dunno. And then those people always calling me things like ‘fag’ or whatever...it kinda gets to you after awhile...I guess…? I’m alright. I’m just thinking. But I did mention in the livestream that I was gonna introduce you and Tom this evening and that I would make some type of vlog or challenge video…? I kinda wanna do that? It could be fun. You don’t mind, right?” Jackie smirked and laughed lightly.  
“Marco, I don’t mind. You don’t have to really make a big deal about me being in your videos. I know not everyone will like me, and that’s okay. It’s just life, and we just have to keep pushing through.” Marco nodded. “Now get dressed. You look like you just walked out of an Old Navy advertisement. Get something nice on. I mean...we ARE kinda...like...seeing him for the first time in years...well, you are. I’m meeting him.” Marco nodded again.

“Yeah, Jackie...uh...Jackie…?” Marco hesitated. “I…I love you…” he said in a small voice. Jackie looked over, a bit shocked but at the same time, kind of expectant. She hadn’t heard Marco say that in a while. It was nice to hear. He’d been pushing himself to make videos and guitar covers of Love Sentence songs. Plus, everyone wanted him to publish the songs he made himself when he was younger. Jackie remembered that he let her look through his songbook when they were around eighteen. Right before they started dating. She smiled gently at the memory. She really did love Marco...but it just...didn’t feel right. She wanted him happy. She wanted him to be with someone who would be there for him. She and Tom had talked before on phone, but it seemed she needed to make a very important mirror call. But how…?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Jackie talk about the Marco Problem.

It was a weird thing of her to do; stealing Marco’s dimensional scissors and running off to speak with someone behind his back. She had given up on the mirror call and decided it would be best if she were there in person, in front of him.  
She saw him there, writing a script for his newest video. She saw some sticky notes on a whiteboard and read them quietly. ‘Confess to him’, ‘record the 3-part gameplay video’, ‘have lunch date with Star, Janna, Marco and Jackie’. She smiled softly at the stupidly nerdy post-its.  
“Tom?” she called out. He flinched in his chair and turned around, surprised at another person being in his room.  
“Y-Yeah? Oh, hey Jackie!” He smiled, though she could tell it was forced, but it was obvious he was trying to be polite to her.  
“Don’t fake smile around me. Look, I need to talk to you about an issue I’m having. A Marco issue.” Her eyes looked an icy blue as the name slipped off her tongue.  
“M-M-Marco? What’s wrong with Marco?” He stuttered. She frowned and bit her lower lip in thought.  
“I’ve been thinking about this for the past three months...and I’ve come to realize that...I’m kinda just slowing him down, y’know? None of his subscribers like me, well maybe a few, but there’s that and...I know you like him. And before you start yelling or whatever, hear me out. I...don’t think I love him anymore. He’s such a sweet guy, and I really don’t wanna hurt him. Honest.” Jackie seemed to be tearing up a little. God, did she feel guilty. She’d probably hurt him either way, and he already was struggling through depression. He’d be completely broken if she dumped him. But...Tom was obviously the better option, she thought.  
“How’d you know I liked him?” He asked curiously.  
“It was obvious. The way you talk about him mostly gave it away. But...there were other things. The list is way too long to recite right now, but trust me, it was a dead give away with how you talk about him. Now, I hope you know that after I break up with him, he’s gonna be sad for a while. I mean, I kinda live with him ‘and stuff, so it’ll be weird movin’ out so I think you should invite him to stay here?” She gave him a weak smile and he understood. She really didn’t want this, but she understood that her feelings for him were fading, which was totally understandable, as that happens with everyone, but she was actually being responsible for it. It might be a healthy break up if she handed it correctly. But Marco...he was unpredictable.  
“Hey...hey...I understand. I’ve had tons of girlfriends and boyfriends before. Heck, even some agender date-mates and whatnot. I know what it’s like to have your love for someone die out. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sure, it feels shitty for a while, but it gets better.” Tom saw that Jackie was really torn up about this. He wasn’t really good at comforting people, but he decided that he would try.  
“You can do this. You can do it today at dinner after we record the videos and I will comfort him and invite him over to my place?”  
“Sounds like a deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so short, I'm supposed to be sleeping ;v;"


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom comes over for a night over and Jackie and Marco have a serious talk.

“Oh! Hey! You're here!” Marco explained as he saw his friend, Tom, standing at the door. The demon waved weakly to his friend, and after he was invited inside, he went straight for the table. He dropped his bags into the chair that sat next to him and sat down in his own.  
“So! I'm here for food so where is it?” He teased. Marco grinned.  
“My nachos are almost done, and the quesadillas are being cooked right now. Jackie volunteered to cook for tonight. It's weird; she never cooks unless it's a special occasion. I mean, I'm not saying YOU’RE not a special occasion but-”. Tom laughed, his eyes sparkling with amusement.  
“I understand what you're trying to say. You're not used to her cooking because it's literally the middle of June. There's like...no earth-traditions I know of that happen in June.” Marco nodded and disappeared into the kitchen momentarily. When he came back, he was carrying a large bowl of cheesy, gooey nachos. Steam rose off them as Tom’s mouth watered.  
“Well fuck, I didn't know your nachos looked that good!” He mused. Marco blushed lightly and looked away.  
“You're just trying to suck up now so that I don't totally obliterate your ass when we play those video games later!” Marco chuckled to himself.  
“What other games are we playing, anyways?” Tom wondered aloud. Marco looked over at him, intrigued at how Tom was struggling to pick up even one chip.  
“First off, I was wondering if you wanted to play one serious game and two stupid games, or if you wanted to play two serious games and one stupid game? Because I have the games picked out already. And secondly, let ME get the nachos for you.” With ease, Marco reached across the table and grabbed a handful of the cheesy treasures. Tom smiled sheepishly and scoffed.  
“Well it's not like I have claws or anything-”  
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” He looked over towards the kitchen. Jackie stood there, wordlessly preparing the food.  
“I'll...be right back.” He mumbled. He got up from his chair and walked into the kitchen to check on Jackie.  
“...Jackie…?” He reached out to tap her on the shoulder, but she flinched at his touch.  
“Marco, we seriously need to talk.” She said, her voice monotonous and her eyes dull. Her pallid complexion made her face look completely drained of all emotion.  
“Sure, about what?” He murmured. He was getting kinda worried and nervous about this “talk”.  
“Marco...you're such a sweet man and…”  
She took a deep breath, her eyes watering.  
“You think we should break up.” He concluded. She looked up at him, slightly shocked.  
“How did y-”  
“Everything seemed tense with you today.”  
“But that doesn't mean-”  
“It does when it's with you. You're always chill and never tense.”  
“I...guess you do know me well…”  
“Well duh. Look, I understand that you want to break up with me, but can you at least tell me why?”  
“It's…” Jackie glanced into the dining room and looked at Tom for a moment. Her eyes reverted back to looking at Marco.  
“It's because my feelings faded and... I found out that I like girls...only girls…”  
Marco gave her a sympathetic smile. He gently pulled her into a loving embrace.  
“I understand. It's normal for feelings to fade after a while, and I'm proud of you for telling me you're lesbian. I know you've been questioning for a while, and it's so great that you finally figured it out!”  
He was happy for her. Sure, he felt awful, but she needed him to be strong.  
“We're still really good friends, though. Right?” Jackie wondered.  
“The best. Now let's go eat. And I hope things don't become all awkward or whatever, like when Star and I tried dating. Ugh, that was a mess.” Jackie laughed lightly and wiped away her tears.  
“Thanks, Marco. For takin’ this shit seriously and calmly.” She gave a weak smile. Marco returned it and awkwardly shuffled over to give her a quick side hug. He proceeded to walk into the dining room where Tom sat. He needed to tell his best friend.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco is depressed after the breakup with Jackie and his friends try their best to get him back to his old self. He finally gets out of his apartment after Star makes him a schedule to follow and he agreed to meet up with his friends to do a collab. Will Marco finally get out of his depressed funk? Will he ever find out that the breakup was planned all along from Jackie and Tom?

It had been 6 months since the break up. Marco was still heartbroken of course, and Star and Tom smothering him with affection wasn’t helping too much. Star had tried everything. She even tried pairing Marco up with different people, hoping maybe it would get his mind off Jackie. She was his first relationship, so of course she was special. And he had liked her for years so the heartbreak was undoubtedly horrible for him.

The first few weeks were the roughest for Marco. Jackie had moved out fairly easy, not having many things at Marco’s place to begin with. She and Marco continued to be friends, but the starco comments they kept getting on their YouTube and Twitter accounts to the point where they felt absolutely suffocated. Sure, there was the occasional tomcod shippers, or even people who shipped Heckapoo and Marco together, though they were scarce as well. Most of Marco’s fanbase were sweet to him, however. They wished him to feel better and some even sent fanmail or fanart to him to cheer him up. He had gone on hiatus and logged off all his accounts. He seldom came out of his apartment and seemed to drag himself everywhere he went. He rarely bathed, ate, or drank anything. He just slept, cried, and played video games.

Sometimes Marco would find himself scrolling through Tumblr or Deviantart under the #jarco tag to see the stories and fanfiction his fanbase came up with. Some were sweet. Others were…disturbing. He found way too many NSFW stories for his own good. 

One fanfiction was so well written it brought tears to his eyes. Star had walked in (well, she technically “cut in” hence the dimensional scissors) on Marco hugging his pillow and sobbing in the dark, the only light being from his laptop that sat neatly on his desk. His desk was usually neat as well, but then it was covered in wadded up tissues and some nachos that looked almost a day old now. She had forced Marco to stop moping and one inspirational speech later, Marco had found himself with a busy schedule again. Slowly but surely over the course of a few more weeks he was returning back to his normal self.

Today, Marco was scheduled by Star to hang out with her, Janna, Heckapoo, and Tom to do a collab. He was slightly sore from going to Heckapoo’s dimension 2 weeks earlier. There, he saw his beloved Nachos (his dragoncycle) and was able to go on adventures again, though it only lasted an hour before the dimension-jumping thief was caught. He had stolen one of Rhombulus’ crystalized statues and hauled it away. When he was caught, he begged for permission to keep it. In the crystal was a lifeless looking grey kitten. Both heroes had wondered why a kitten was frozen, so they had interrogated Rhombulus. 

Apparently he took it so that he was no longer lonely, his explanation being “it gets lonely without people to talk to, and most of the people inside the dimension were evicted criminals or past queens”. He was forced by law to keep them frozen, so he saw a kitten which he thought was a stray and crystalized it, unfreezing it occasionally when he needed company and freezing it again when the kitten fell asleep. It had gone on like that for three days until the rightful owner found out from some Mewnian peasants that Rhombulus was responsible. Heckapoo let the man have his cat back and scolded Rhombulus for at least an hour. Marco had decided it was time to go at that point and collapsed in his bed when he got home. 

His day started when he karate-chopped his alarm clock in half. His hand was now sore, but at least he was awake. He sat up, a pained grunt escaping his lips. He looked over at the dirty pile of clothes that lay next to his desk and he pulled himself over. He picked up the heap of filth and decided that his house looked (and smelled) absolutely vile. He tossed the clothes in the laundry hamper and wrote a note to himself for later that said: DO THE LAUNDRY! IT’S BEEN 2 WEEKS!

He nodded slightly and left to dig through his closet to try to find any clothes that looked somewhat decent on him. He settled on a plain white shirt and dark grey jeans. He tugged some socks on and laced up his black sneakers and grabbed his wallet and keys and thew them into a backpack and stuck his phone and laptop in, as well as his headphones. He paused for a second before looking longingly at his closer from the door. He quickly grabbed his favorite red hoodie and hurried out the bedroom door.

2 minutes rushed by and he found himself driving down the highway to Janna’s house, where they agreed to meet up. He took a small pit-stop to get himself some breakfast and continued his journey.

It was now 8:23AM and Marco was still exhausted. He pulled into Janna’s driveway and slung his backpack over his shoulder and slammed the door closed, making sure it closed all the way, before locking it and tossing the keys into the front backpack pocket and zipping it up. He knocked on her door, exhaustion seeping through with his every movement. He looked rather different than when Janna last saw him, so when she greeted him, she froze mid sentence and just stared.

Of course she had known about the breakup (due to Star blabbing about it constantly to her), but she didn’t think Marco had let himself go that badly.

“Diaz, you look like someone killed a puppy and gutted it right in front of you-“ She started, only silenced when Star ran up to the open door and jabbed Janna in the side. The young women exchanged looks for a moment, Star’s radiating a silent death threat and Janna being taken aback at how hostile her lover had become in only a second. Star turned back to the Hispanic man. 

“Marco!!! I’m so happy you’re here! Come in!” She said happily, but Marco and Janna could both tell it was forced. Janna looked over at her girlfriend, a puzzled look on her face.  
“This is my house, you know.” She snorted and opened the door wider, gesturing for Marco to come in. It was a spacious place tucked comfortably in a good neighborhood. Apparently it had belonged to her grandmother, and she inherited it when her grandmother passed a year earlier. Star had helped her renovate it, and it looked stunning now. It was now very modern and classy, but still had things that reeked “Janna lives here”, such as a large stuffed alligator sunbathing on the dining room table. 

Star looked like a brand new woman. It had been almost a month since Marco had seen her. She wore her hair down as always but sported a new outfit. Her shirt was a pastel pink baseball shirt with a white star on the front, the sleeves being a darker pink. She wore light purple shorts with star and heart patches sewn into them and stripped pastel socks. She, of course, wore her signature devil-horn headband as always, but today she had earrings in, light makeup, and a small bow tied to a horn. 

Janna’s look contrasted Star’s feminine looks. She wore a black tank top with a plaid dark blue and green flannel on top and dark blue jeans. She didn’t bother with shoes since it was her house, after all. She didn’t wear any makeup, but had many new piercings and a tattoo on her lower stomach peeking just above her pants waistband. She tugged down her shirt and looked at Marco. 

“I like the mountain man look you’re going for.” Janna teased, only earning another stern look from Star.  
“What she means to say is you look so good with stubble! Anyways, we were just setting up for a Try Not To Laugh challenge! Janna and Tom agreed that you’d like this and I thought it was a good idea, too!” Marco gave her an apologetic smile.  
“I know I don’t look my best. I nearly had a heart attack when I finally managed to drag myself to the bathroom. It had been so long since I had seen myself in the mirror…or used any lights…” he laughed nervously, rubbing his arm and looking from Star to Janna timidly. 

“I knooooowwww, but Tom said that he’d help you, didn’t he?” Star asked. Marco shrugged, not remembering the last time he had talked to the pink-haired male. Star exhaled a long sigh and grabbed Marco’s wrist and dragged him to the living room which opened to the kitchen, only being separated by an island counter in the middle. A bowl of fruit was nearly placed in the middle next to the sink and the granite counters looked so clean he though he could use them as another mirror, not that he wanted to see himself again after this morning.

Tom and Heckapoo finally noticed Marco and stopped chatting about whatever they were discussing.  
“Hey Marco, still depressed and sore?” Heckapoo smirked and waved at him. Tom looked over at Heckapoo and whispered in her ear. She blushed slightly and straightened her posture, clearing her throat and trying again with her greeting. “What I meant to say was….how are you feelin’?” She looked like she was ready to face palm out of sheer embarrassment. She seemed to mentally decide to just go back to typing on her laptop. Tom got up from the couch where he and Heckapoo sat and embraced Marco in a hug. 

Heckapoo was no longer wearing her large dress. Instead, she was wearing a pair of thick black-framed glasses, a black beanie, a long-sleeved red t-shirt with the phrase “Smokin’ Hot” written boldly in black lettering, and shorts. She wore red socks to match and had a darker red hoodie tied loosely around her waist.

Tom had been wearing a faded band tank top with some odd-looking words on the front. Marco had recalled that Tom was a fan of bands from the Underworld, as well as Earth, and they had a completely different language used where Tom was from. Tom wore black ripped jeans and didn’t seem to be wearing any socks. He now had wings, however, so he took up a bit more space. He also had a tail and he had some stubble, though it was neater than Marco’s. Marco had a messy-looking goatee. Tom just had stubble.

“Hey man, how’re you holding up?” He asked empathetically. Marco sighed and looked down in defeat.  
“Same as it has been for the last while. You know how it is…” he trailed off, not knowing what more to say. Star cleared her throat and sat on the granite counter. 

“Guuuyssss!!! We got everything set up in the recording room!!!!!~” She smiled from ear to ear and seemed to radiate with excitement. After all, it was her first Do Not Laugh challenge. 

“Great…” Marco said. Tom grabbed his arm and led him up stairs into the other room and sat Marco down on the plush white couch. The couch went well with the room, the walls being painted a light blue and the hardwood floors also a light polished brown. There were large windows which let a lot of natural light in, framed in white. There were minuscule accents to the room, like plants and other various succulents. There were a few paintings hung on the walls of various things, from animals to a bookshelf full of…magic spells? Crystals? ‘Since when did Janna like crystals?’ Marco found himself wondering. Tom plopped down on the light green beanbag that was beside the couch and Star and Janna bounded up the stairs behind the two men. Star lay down on the light turquoise rug and Janna sat beside Marco. Heckapoo walked slowly up the stairs, still trying to type on her new red laptop. She set it down on the glass coffee table besides some mugs full of dirt. She made a quizzical expression at the mugs.

“There are seeds in there that I’m growing. One’s gonna be a venus flytrap and the other is gonna be…well…the lady didn’t tell me, but I got it from Mewni, so it has to be cool.” She smirked lazily, leaning back into the chair. Heckapoo scoffed and rolled her eyes, smiling lightly. She made sure that the camera was recording on it’s tripod and walked over, sitting on the couch and smiling.

“It’s recording guys, say your intros and I’ll edit it later.” She said. This was new to Marco.  
“Are you the new editor for Star and Janna?” He wondered aloud. She grinned and looked over at him.  
“Yep, and Tom. I can be your editor too if you want?” She invited. Marco smiled slightly. He knew exactly how she did it.  
“Sure, go ahead. I have old footage from about a month ago, but I look awful in it.” He chuckled slightly. “You use your Hecka-clones to edit all of them, don’t you?” 

Heckapoo raised both her hands up.  
“Guilty as charged.” She grinned. Star sat up and waved an arm in front of the two.  
“Uh, guuuuyyyysss??? Hellooooo??? We’re kinda in the middle of something already???” She said impatiently. Marco and Heckapoo snapped back to reality and they all started their intros. After a while, they had nearly an hour and a half of footage, and Tom handed the camera over to Heckapoo. 

“Here ya go. When do you think you can get each copy ready for upload?” he inquired. The fire goddess shrugged.  
“Whenever I can, I guess. I’ll stay up here and work on Marco and Tom’s copies first since it was originally Tom’s idea and Marco hasn’t uploaded in forever.” She gave each of the guys a thumbs up. The nodded at one another.

“Well you seem to be feeling better.” Janna quipped. Marco realized that yeah, he did actually feel better this time. Maybe he was finally getting over Jackie.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right!” He said gleefully. Star “aww”ed and cheered quietly, attacking him a big bear hug. He smiled at her and hugged back. 

“Stop hogging Marco you hetty spaghettis.” Heckapoo joked. It was a big joke amongst the friend group about starco. They all didn’t like the ship but still made fun of it behind the scenes, yet acted civil in front of their audience. Neither of the friends wanted their friendship to stop due to people shipping them, so now they just ignored it and continued their mutual affections. 

“Ok guys, I’m gonna head downstairs to make some lunch with Star.” Janna stated as she descended down the stairs. Star followed happily.

“Marco! Tom! Why don’t you two catch up? It’s been forever!” She called.

The two males exchanged looks and shrugged, smiling and nodding.

“Sure, wanna set up on the patio so we’re out of the girls’ ways?” Tom offered. Marco nodded and the two walked out to the patio to chat like old times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am soooo sorry for not updating for so long! So many things have happened, but I'm gonna try my best to update weekly again and I'm gonna work on some One-Shots for some others ships of mine ocassionally! Please enjoy! I made it extra long to make up, although it's slight fluff. The serious stuff is in the next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Marco finally talk again and Marco learns that not everything is as it seems.

Tom sat down, Marco following close behind. The two men shot quick glances at each other. Marco cleared his throat.

“So…it’s been so long…” He started awkwardly.

“Y-Yeah, it really has been. How’ve you been? You look….great…!” Tom immediately responded.

Tom pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long, exasperated-sounding sigh. 

“I’m just gonna cut to the chase. You look…awful. You look like you haven’t even stepped outside in a month; God knows how long it really was. And have you even bathed this week? Marco, are you really okay?” the demon inquired. Marco shook his head slowly, staring at his feet.

“No…I’m not…” the man shifted on the patio couch uncomfortably.

“So I can help yo-“

“YOU SAID YOU WOULD MONTHS AGO!” Marco snapped. He felt hot tears pool in his eyes. “YOU SAID YOU’D BE _THERE FOR ME!_ YOU RARELY EVEN TRIED TO SEE ME!”

Tom’s eyes widened at the sudden outburst, and then felt his cheeks flush in anger.

“Marco, I am going to be _KING_ in 7 months, do you _KNOW_ how stressful that is?! I tried my fucking best to see you every chance I could slip out from my studies or meetings or..whatever..! And I still have a YouTube career to maintain so I can do something I actually WANT to do for the first time in…ever! Life doesn’t just stop, man. Just because your girlfriend dumped you because she knew I liked you and she stopped loving you and fell for some girl from your old school doesn’t mean you stop your life! Wait shit-“ Tom paused as he shot a worried look over at Marco, who now looked horrified and enraged.

“She broke up with me cause of _YOU!?”_ He asked incredulously. Tom whimpered and started giving Indian burns to his tail (he did this when he was stressed as a young monster and continued into adulthood). 

“She broke up with you because she fell in love with Britney Wong from your old school! The two started hanging out again and hit it off! We…met one night…me and Jackie…She wasn’t lying about the lesbian thing…she told me, too, it wasn’t just you who told me…but yeah…I had a thing for you…I…I still do….I was hoping to ask you on a date soon…but I know you’d say no…”

Marco stood up suddenly.   
“You’re right…Tom…I…would say no. Not because I don’t like you but…I’m just not ready yet….for relationships….Jackie was my whole world…We dated for…I don’t even remember how long….it used to not matter how long it was….I…I even bought her a ring…I didn’t tell anyone this but…the night you came over, I was going to propose to her…It seemed like it was right…She seemed upset so I thought it would cheer her up and…I wanted to marry her…I still have my ring somewhere…I should probably take it back, shouldn’t I…?” He laughed, the laugh sounding watery from his tears. He looked up at Tom, and Tom saw tears streaming down his face. Marco looked pathetic. All Tom wanted to do was stand up and press Marco into his chest and pet his head and hold him in his arms, reassuring him and kissing him gently. But he couldn’t.

“Wait…you said you weren’t ready….but…you didn’t really say no….?” Tom was puzzled. Did he have a possible chance?

“Yeah…I’d love to go out with you sometime…I used to have a crush on you sophomore year of high school but then Jackie finally agreed to go out with me and we kinda were a thing ever since…but I’m just not ready for dating again…I…I’m scared…I’m scared I’ll lose the next person I date just like I lost her…” He felt a lump forming in his throat, closing his words off. In his mind, he screamed. He just lost Tom, didn’t he?

“Marco…Please…I…I’ve liked you ever since I first met you…You were so strong back then, Hell, you’ve gotten even stronger now..! And handsome and brave and smart and-“  
Marco pressed a finger to Tom’s lips.

“I’m really not ready, Tom…I’m too scared to lose anyone else…I don’t want to be heartbroken again.”

“I won’t let that happen, Marco…I…I love you…Please, just give me a chance to prove myself…” he trailed off, rubbing his tail even more than before.

Marco sighed and bit his lower lip, hesitation present on his face.   
“Fine…if you promise not to leave me if it doesn’t work out, okay? I’m…not really sure how I feel about you at this moment, but I’ll try. I need to get into the dating scene, anyways. It’s better if I start now then in like…30 years…”

Tom felt like he had won the lottery.   
“W-Wait, a-are you serious?!” He cried, a smile forming on his lips. He raced over to Marco and embraced him. Marco stood there, frozen. He carefully wrapped his arms around the taller male and felt himself press his face into Tom’s chest, tears threatening to spill again. 

“I’ve got you, Marco…I won’t let anything bad happen to you…” He heard Tom whisper. In this moment, Marco had never felt so small. It wasn’t a bad thing, however.

But the moment soon ended when they both heard a chorus of “awww”s from the doorway.  
Tom looked up to see Star smiling widely, Janna leaning against the door with a lazy smile and a thumbs up, and Heckapoo smirking. 

Marco blushed and buried his face further into Tom’s chest.

“Fuck off, ladies, can’t you see I’m trying to calm Marco down?” He snapped, though it was mostly in a joking manner. This didn’t phase Star.

“You two are so cuuuute!~ Janna! You owe me ten Earth bucks and a date night! My choice. Scoooore!~” Star said in a sing-song voice. Tom rolled his eyes and went back to making sure Marco was ok.

He pulled away from Marco and looked down at him, his hands on both Marco's shoulders. 

"You don't have to go on a date with me just because I want it. I want you to go out with me because you like me for _me,_ not because I peer pressured you. So I'll ask one more time, this time without peer pressuring you. Do you want to go out on a date with me?" He asked.

Marco gulped. He truly didn't know. He felt almost obligated to say yes for Tom's sake, but he knew that would be dishonest. He decided that it would be best if he made Tom happy. Besides, what was the worst that could happen? Tom would never know.

"Yes, I think that I am ready, just scared. I want to try again, Tom. I want it to be with you." he responded, mustering all his acting skills into this single performance.

Tom felt lighter than air. He swooned, smiling and he held Marco again in his arms. Finally, the Hispanic man was his.

**Author's Note:**

> So basically I'm gonna finish up this in less than 20 chapters hopefully? I'm making my own personal deadline for sometime in July this year, but if I finish sooner, I might make a sequel! And I will work on KYNA and the other stories; I just needed to escape from that and make some cute thing I thought of.


End file.
